


Flash

by rudbeckia



Series: Random Worlds [26]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, sugardaddy Hux
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-07 05:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12226401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Armitage goes away on a business trip and gets insecure. To cheer him up, Ben plans a surprise at the airport on his return. What will Armitage do when a couple of paparazzi spot them?





	Flash

Armitage didn’t get a reply to his text until after he’d landed and his phone found AT&T. He was too tired to think about anything more than marching to the electronic passport control, scanning his passport and collecting his ticket from the machine, finding his way through the airport to the taxi rank out front and slumping in the back seat while the driver took him to his hotel. Local time was mid afternoon, but Armitage yawned as he unpacked, ironed and hung his four crisp shirts and checked his suit over for creases. He looked at the time again: he could nap for almost an hour then wake himself up with a shower before his welcome dinner as the new owner of _First Order Industries._

_Am I your secret?_  
_...I’m not keeping you secret, I just have not told anyone about you yet._

Armitage mulled over what Ben’s text might or might not mean while he failed to sleep. It would be late at home and Ben was probably asleep but Armitage thumbed his phone anyway.

_why not_  
send

_am i not worth telling anyone about_  
delete

_what am I to you_  
delete

The phone buzzed and Armitage almost dropped it. The screen lit up with Ben contemplating the coffee machine in Armitage’s kitchen, and his stomach churned. 

“Hello Ben.” Armitage smiled as he spoke.  
_”Hey! Glad to hear you got there okay. How was your flight?”_  
“Terrible. I hate long haul. Have you settled in?”  
_”Yeah, yeah. I’m sitting on your sofa eating leftover curry. I was writing and I forgot to have dinner until I ran out of inspiration.”_

Armitage laughed once then went quiet. He closed his eyes and imagined Ben sprawled on the squashy blue sofa eating lamb rogan josh and chana daal. He thought of the taste of the spices and the feel of Ben’s fingers in his mouth, the look on Ben’s face when Ben had let slip those thoughts that hinted that they might be negotiating some kind of relationship.

_”Armitage? You still there? Line’s gone dead this end.”_  
“I’m here! Sorry, I drifted off for a minute.” Armitage sat up and clenched his free hand into a tight fist. “I have to go to a formal dinner but I would rather be eating leftovers with you.” 

This time the silence was on Ben’s side of the Atlantic. Armitage sighed and Ben’s voice returned.

_”We have very different lives, don’t we? I haven’t told my friends about you because I don’t know what to say. I mean, ‘I occasionally exchange sexual favours with a rich guy five years older than me and he gives me cash for jobs he doesn’t really need doing’ doesn’t sound so great.”_

“I see.” Armitage thumped the mattress with his fist and bit his lower lip hard. “Do you think I’m paying for you... your... ugh, for sex with you? I’m not. I’ve tried to make that clear but—“  
_”No! No, no, no, no, I know it’s not that at all!”_  
“Then what, Ben? What am I to you?”  
_”Look, it’s real late here. I don’t know. I’m too tired to think. I guess I like you and I didn’t expect to and I’m not sure what to do about it. I thought you’d be just some asshole but you’re not.”_  
“High praise indeed!” Armitage felt his hand uncurl and his lips quirked upwards.  
_”Not all the time, anyway.”_  
Armitage lay back and closed his eyes. “I should fire you for your cheek right now,” he said, “but I’m not going to. You can thank me when I get back.”  
_”Okay. I’m going to think about how I might thank you while I’m in the shower. Goodnight... jellybean.”_  
“Oh fuck off! Goodnight, Ben.”

It seemed to Armitage to be the ideal time to take that shower and think hard about Ben.

 

The rest of Armitage’s trip went well. He spent his days getting a personal view of recent staff changes at _First Order Industries,_ meeting the people he had picked out for top positions and briefing them on their short-, mid- and long-term priorities. All of this could probably have been done remotely like Brendol preferred, but Armitage knew he had to distance himself from his father’s taint. In the evenings he dined with influential acquaintances who coveted his ability to fund their projects, then returned to his hotel late to Skype Ben and smile at his too-early-in-the-morning face and bed-hair. Dozing on the plane on the way home, Armitage speculated on a promise Ben had made to have a nice surprise waiting for him, and smiled at he warmth he felt in response.

All warm feeling evaporated at the arrivals hall. Armitage gaped in horror at the sight of Ben holding a bouquet of deep red roses and a sign that read _”Gingernut”_ in huge Bradley Hand font. He couldn’t slip past behind the crowd. Ben spotted him, waved and yelled. Two cameras appeared and flashed in their direction, and Armitage fought the instinct to put his head down and run. He caught up to Ben and spoke softly to his wide open eyes, raised eyebrows and chewed lip. “Just walk out of here. Eyes front. Don’t acknowledge that you’ve seen those bastards and don’t react to anything anyone shouts.”  
Ben fell into step beside Armitage and took his luggage. “What the fuck! What’s going on?” 

Safe in a taxi, Ben frowned and clutched the roses closer as if he might hide them while Armitage barked into his phone. When Armitage put his phone down, Ben glanced at him and looked away. Armitage sighed and touched Ben’s arm. They spent the rest of the taxi ride in silence, fingers entwined on the seat between them. 

Armitage didn’t speak until the front door was safely shut and locked with them inside.  
“I’m the new owner of one of the largest companies in the world, and I was recently under suspicion for doing away with my own father to get the job. The paparazzi covered the investigation. They know who I am and my face will still sell their tabloids.” He sighed. “And now so will yours. Unless Phasma and Unamo fixed it, tomorrow’s _’Supernova!’_ will say _Murderous Multi-Millionaire’s Mystery Meat_ or some crap like that. Then they’ll publish your name and address and interview everyone you ever pissed off.”  
Ben shook his head. “Fuck. I had no idea. I wouldn’t have... I didn’t set out to... It wasn’t deliberate.”  
“I know. Are those for me?” Armitage pointed to the squashed roses. Ben puffed out a breath.  
“Yeah. Welcome home. Sorry I fucked up. I planned a stupid, sappy, romantic scene at the airport. I thought it would make you laugh.”

A ringtone interrupted their talk and Armitage listened with only an occasional _mm-hmm, uh-huh_ to indicate that there was anyone on the other end of the call. When he clicked his phone off, Armitage smiled.  
“It’s sorted. Unamo deleted the file upload from their secure server then crashed it, and hacked the paps’ phones to give them a nice little virus that will upoad to all their data storage in the cloud and corrupt every file. In the meantime, Phasma, hah, located and destroyed the originals at source. Best lay low for a few days though. Someone might watch the house for a while just to see who comes and goes.”

Ben nodded and tidied up the damaged blooms. He smiled and held out the bouquet, dropped to one knee and his grin widened.  
“In that case, welcome home, peachcheeks. If I can’t come and go, I suppose I will have to come and stay.”  
Armitage rolled his eyes, took the roses and laughed. “You know,” he said with a glance up at the staircase, “It’s high time I cleared out the old bastard’s suite. He has a jacuzzi in there and I think it might be a nice place to relax and negotiate terms.”  
“Terms?” Ben asked with a puzzled frown. “What terms?”  
“For us.” Armitage pointed to Ben’s broad chest then touched his own. “For _us.”_


End file.
